Scammers are left to ‘run riot’ on social media and are using sites including Facebook and Instagram to market stolen personal details, a probe by consumer group Which? Reveals
- Which? found 50 discoverable profiles and groups advertising stolen identities
- The stolen information is used by fraudsters for blackmail and identity scams
- One Facebook post showed the personal and financial details of a Yorkshire man
Scammers have been left to ‘run riot’ on social media, an investigation has found.
Criminals are using Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to market stolen personal email and financial details which are then used by fraudsters for blackmail and scams such as identity theft.
Consumer group Which? found 50 easily discoverable profiles, pages and groups advertising stolen identities, credit card details, compromised Netflix and Uber Eats accounts, and even fake passports.
Criminals are using Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to market stolen email and financial details which are used in identity scams, an investigation by Which? revealed (file image)
Which? found 50 discoverable profiles, pages and groups advertising stolen identities, credit card details, compromised Netflix and Uber Eats accounts, and fake passports (file image)
One post on a Facebook group detailed the full identity and financial information of a man in Yorkshire.
Which? reported the profiles, pages and groups via the platforms’ in-site reporting tools.
Facebook initially refused to remove the post on the Yorkshire man because it ‘doesn’t go against one of our specific community standards’.
It was later taken down along with a few other isolated posts but every page and group remained.
One Facebook group post gave the identity and financial details of a Yorkshire man. Facebook initially refused to remove the post but later took it down along with other posts (file image)
Instagram and Twitter did not remove any content until it was presented to the platforms’s media representatives.
Jenny Ross, of Which? Money, said: ‘Social media firms must take much stronger action to prevent their sites becoming a safe haven for scammers.’
Facebook, which owns Instagram, and Twitter said fraudulent activity was against their policies and that they worked to remove such content.